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Spawn

there comes a time in every super hero’s life where they get an awesome animated tv series: Batman got his Batman Beyond, and Spider-Man had his own animated series called “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” — which happens to be my favorite, being as I grew up with it. But there was one hero who stood differently from the others; unlike Batman and Spider-Man, this hero had a darker tale, and his animated series played at only midnight. If that doesn’t sound awesome enough, the show was also shown on HBO! Who is this individual, you ask? This [anti] hero went by the name of Spawn.

the Spawn animated series ran from 1997 to 1999 [a short period of only 18 episodes] but from what I’ve read, it’s actually quite faithful to the source material: since Todd McFarlane — Spawn‘s creator — help create the show. It also won a number of awards for it’s dark/gritty animation style; including an Emmy for “outstanding animation” in 1998 — only a year after it’s initial release!

Spawn follows a government trained assassin who becomes a vengeful Hellspawn in death. When he’s brought back from the dead he’s enlisted to join Hell’s army and release his carnage on anyone that gets in his way. With both Heaven and Hell battle for his already torn soul, Spawn spends most of his time wandering the dark and dirty alleys, protecting the innocent and destroying the corrupt. The show isn’t all violence and heroism though, the show also has a ‘human’ feel to it too, especially because Spawnalso faces the acceptance of his own death, find and destroy his own killer, face the fact that he has been sent to Hell after his assassin life and worst of all: must also face the reality of losing his wife to an old war friend.

Though you might be able to find a few episodes of the show on VHS, in 2008 HBO released the coolest steelbook. [as seen in the above picture] it has all 18 episodes and tons of behind the scene footage. Not surprisingly though, it’s not a cheap item: which makes me glad I found my copy at a pawnshop for $5.00! HBO‘s Spawn comes highly recommended from me: it’s dark, it can be funny [depends on your definition of “funny” though], but most of all; it’s really well done animation! [I believe a few episodes are even on YouTube!] if you ever get a chance at this collection for cheap, do not hesitate — you won’t regret it!

THANKS FOR READING.

[fun fact: Todd McFarlane has been in talks about a NEW Spawn animated series. Will it live up to this one? Only time will tell!]